The training ground had gone completely silent.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing. Seers mid-sparring froze, weapons lowered. Those practicing techniques halted, their concentration shattered by the sudden shift in atmosphere.
All eyes were on Noir.
Mr. Ace's bandaged fingers twitched slightly.
"The Crimson Seer position," he said slowly, "has always been associated with... anomalies. Seers who took it manifested abilities outside the normal scope of spiritual techniques."
He tilted his head, studying Noir with renewed intensity.
"But this is different. This is something fundamental. Something in his very core."
Noir's throat felt tight. "So I'm broken?"
"No," Shin Jin said firmly. "Not broken. Just... unexplained."
"Which is worse," Soo Ah muttered.
Shin Jin ignored her and focused on Noir. "Listen to me. What you just experienced when you tried to access your spiritual being—that wasn't normal. Most seers describe it as serene. Peaceful. Like stepping into warm water."
He paused.
"You saw something. Shapes. Darkness."
It wasn't a question.
Noir nodded slowly.
"The question is," Shin Jin continued, "whether those shapes are part of your spiritual being, or if they're something else entirely. Something external trying to manifest."
The words hung in the air like a guillotine blade.
"Are you saying," Piers said carefully, "that something might be inside Noir's spiritual being?"
"I'm saying I don't know enough to rule it out."
Mr. Ace stepped between them, his presence commanding immediate attention.
"Enough speculation. We need to gather more data." He turned to Shin Jin. "Let me conduct a more thorough examination. My techniques are different from yours. I might see something you missed."
Shin Jin's jaw tightened. "Your 'techniques' are invasive and dangerous."
"For normal seers, yes. But if something's already compromised his spiritual being—"
"No."
The word came out sharp enough to cut.
Shin Jin moved forward, positioning himself between Mr. Ace and Noir like a shield.
"You're not experimenting on my students."
Mr. Ace was quiet for a long moment.
Then he laughed—a sound both amused and genuinely delighted.
"You really do care about them, don't you?" He shook his head, his bandages rustling slightly. "How very un-seer-like of you."
"Get out," Shin Jin said coldly. "This training ground is off-limits to you."
"Fine. Fine." Mr. Ace held up his hands in mock surrender. "But this isn't over, Shin Jin. Something's wrong with the boy, and pretending it doesn't exist won't change that."
He turned to leave, then paused, looking back at Noir.
"When you figure out what you are," he said, his tone carrying something almost like promise, "come find me. I have questions."
Then he was gone, moving with that unsettling grace back toward the cathedral proper.
Silence fell again.
Shin Jin turned to face his three students, and his expression had shifted. The professional trainer was gone, replaced by something more vulnerable. More human.
"Training is cancelled for today," he said quietly. "Go back to your quarters. Don't speak to anyone about this. Not yet."
"Shin Jin," Soo Ah started, "what are we supposed to tell people? They already saw—"
"Tell them the truth. That Noir couldn't access his spiritual energy properly, so we're taking it slow. Nothing unusual for a new recruit." His gaze swept over all three of them. "And you don't mention what I saw. Understood?"
They nodded.
Shin Jin looked directly at Noir. "You. My private quarters. One hour. We need to talk."
...
Noir's mind spiraled as he walked back through the cathedral with Piers and Soo Ah.
They didn't speak. What was there to say?
At the fork in the corridor where they needed to separate, Soo Ah stopped.
"Noir," she said quietly. "Whatever this is... whatever's happening to you... we're going to figure it out."
"How can you be sure?" Noir asked, hating how small his voice sounded.
"Because," she said firmly, "you're not the only one with secrets in the Ise Order. I'm not. Piers isn't. And clearly Shin Jin has his reasons for protecting you from Ace."
She glanced at Piers.
Piers nodded. "She's right. There's more going on here than surface-level training. If Shin Jin's willing to risk standing up to an Elite rank seer for you, that means something."
Noir wanted to believe them. But the fear that had coiled in his chest when he'd felt those dark shapes... it wouldn't ease.
...
When Noir reached Shin Jin's private quarters an hour later, he found the seer standing at a large window overlooking the city beyond the cathedral walls.
The room was sparse but elegant—bookshelves crammed with texts, weapons displayed on careful stands, and a single painting on the wall. The painting showed a landscape: mountains shrouded in mist, a valley far below, a single figure standing at the precipice.
Alone.
Shin Jin didn't turn when Noir entered.
"Close the door," he said quietly.
Noir obeyed.
"Sit."
Noir sat.
Shin Jin remained at the window for a long moment, his broad shoulders tense, his expression unreadable in the fading afternoon light.
Finally, he spoke.
"Before I tell you anything," Shin Jin said, "I need to understand something. I need to know why you're really here."
Noir's breath caught. "What do you mean? I joined the Order. I'm training—"
"That's the surface answer," Shin Jin interrupted, finally turning to face him. "But I've trained enough seers to know that nobody chooses the Crimson Seer position without a deeper reason. A burning purpose. A wound that won't heal."
He moved closer, his expression intense.
"So I'm asking you directly. What is it? What drives you so hard that you'd choose a cursed position? What are you really searching for?"
Noir's jaw tightened. Nobody had asked him this question directly. Nobody had pressed.
He'd told fragments of his story—to Yuusha, to Soo Ah. But never the whole truth. Never laid bare.
Now, faced with Shin Jin's steady gaze, he found he couldn't lie.
"I'm searching for someone," Noir said quietly. "A man. The man who destroyed my mother."
Shin Jin's expression didn't change, but something shifted in his eyes.
"Destroyed her how?"
"He killed her," Noir said, and the words tasted like poison. "When I was a child. Some time before the Devil's Cradle incident...before the sky turned red."
Shin Jin went very still.
"Tell me," he said softly. "Everything."